After 55 years in the beauty industry, Dalton resident Fran Kavulich has decided to hang up her smock to spend more time with her family and to pursue other interests.

Mrs. Kavulich proudly served her clients, who ranged from average Joes to local politicians. Her witty and self-described "weird" personality made her popular among her clients, and Mrs. Kavulich said she has been doing it for so long that it is difficult to tell where her profession ends and she begins.

"The salon is not just a place to get your hair colored, styled or cut; it is a place to interact with people and where the young staff can learn about hair," said Mrs. Kavulich, who recently retired as owner of Now Hair Studio in downtown Scranton. "Some of my clients are third generation (customers). They took me on all their adventures, and that is something I couldn't have gotten in a different profession."

It's a profession, too, she almost didn't join.

My career decision

"While in school, my mother was bugging me to fill out applications and to pick what I wanted to do for a career, until one day when a hairdresser visited the school," Mrs. Kavulich recalled. "When I came home, I told her I wanted to be a hairdresser to get her off my back. Plus, I thought, 'How hard could it be?' Boy, was I wrong."

Mrs. Kavulich attended beauty school in New York City, where she quickly learned how difficult the profession is. But she enjoyed the art form and the challenge, and she continued her studies in London, Canada and Italy. She took courses with beauty schools such as Toni & Guy and Vidal Sassoon.

After returning from school in New York, she opened her first salon in a West Scranton shop she rented for $25 a month.

"Shortly after I opened the shop, I met the Morgan family, and some of them are still my clients. One of the girls in the family got all of her friends to come in my shop, and they couldn't even fit inside," Mrs. Kavulich said. "Those types of people that I had from those days, their families took me on all their adventures. All those families followed me everywhere for all these years."

Not long after, Mrs. Kavulich found a new spot on Sanderson Avenue in Scranton. The new location gave her more space for clients and a chance to hire more staff. She also opened a salon in Clarks Summit to test the waters for a new business plan she came up with to adapt to the changing industry and also to bring a salon to the Clarks Summit area.

"I started to realize that people didn't want to make long-range appointments, and they wanted to come now and wanted everything now," Mrs. Kavulich said. "So I did a test run before moving to Scranton and it worked out, so that's what I did."

Before doing so, however, she took a job managing a salon in the area. When she left that salon, she was bound by a noncompete clause that did not allow her to work in the beauty industry for four years. During that time, she decided to obtain certification in photography from Luzerne County Community College in 1996.

Mrs. Kavulich opened Now, her fourth salon, in Scranton in 2007, using some of her retirement money to seed the business. She hoped to follow the trends younger clients wanted, and she believed having a younger staff and a storefront in downtown Scranton might just do the trick.

Mrs. Kavulich believes passing along iher knowledge to her employees is fulfilling. She explained the feeling of completing the perfect styling or cut in a unique way.

"This is what I told my kids (her young staff): If you've done something truly spectacular, it's better than sex," Mrs. Kavulich said. "There is nothing better than that instant gratification at that moment, if you know in your heart that it is spectacular."

Time to move on

Although a large chapter in Mrs. Kavulich's life has come to an end, she does not regret her decision since she has sold the business to one of her employees, Erica Garofalo. And she just knows it's time to move on.

Mrs. Kavulich wanted nothing special to celebrate her retirement or her last day in the industry because the fact that it was like any other day is what made it special.

"I wanted it like that; I told them I didn't even want a cupcake," Mrs. Kavulich said with a burst of laughter. "I was the last one out on my last day. That's how I wanted it."

Although Mrs. Kavulich wasn't looking forward to a big celebration, she is anticipating spending her post-retirement years with someone special.

"There is really no feeling yet because it is so soon, but everybody told me I would know when it was time, and I did," Mrs. Kavulich said. "I just wanted to spend time with my husband while we are still healthy."

Contact the writer: jpetro@timesshamrock.com

TO NOMINATE A NORTHEAST WOMAN, please submit requests via email to lifestyles @timesshamrock.com or mail them to Northeast Woman Nominations, The Sunday Times, 149 Penn Ave., Scranton, PA 18503. Please include the woman's name, address, phont number and the reason the reader feels the woman is deserving. Those submitting need to include their name and a daytime phone number.Meet Fran Kavulich

At home: She lives in Dalton with her husband of 50 years, Donald. She has three daughters, Lauri and twins Donna and Debbie, all of Philadelphia; four granddaughters and a grandson.

At work: Former owner of Now Hair Studio

Aspiration: "Having all this time on my hands is new to me, but I can see myself doing some kind of art form," she said.

Inspirations: Vidal Sassoon, Paul Mitchell and Vivienne Mackinder

Diversions: Gardening, learning new things, entertaining and cooking

Aversions: People who are lazy, make excuses for not doing things and do not figure out how to do things when they do not understand

Quote: "People think they do things on their own, but I know everyone that helped me to get where I am," she said. "None of us are doing anything on our own; we have help whether we want to admit it or not."

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